China’s Communist Party, one of the world’s largest political organizations, is inching closer to President Xi Jinping’s goal of becoming a more selective, elite group.
Recent membership data show that the admission process for the 89-million-strong party has become more stringent over recent years, as fewer applicants get shortlisted to undertake the yearslong effort of becoming a full-fledged member, according to an essay by a senior party academic.
The annual tally of shortlisted applicants—known as “party-entry enthusiasts”—declined by 5% from 2013 to 2015, while applications increased by 2.7% over the same period, according to data from the essay published Thursday in the party’s flagship newspaper, People’s Daily.
The winnowing of applicants mirrors the ebbing growth in party membership, which has slipped to the slowest pace in nearly three decades. Party ranks expanded 1.1% in 2015, compared with a 1.8% increase two years earlier, said the essay written by Xie Chuntao, a professor at the Central Party School, an elite party academy.
“The party ranks have undergone positive changes, thanks to our party’s emphasis on developing the membership’s quality and controlling its numbers in recent years,” Mr. Xie wrote. He said the party is focused on “strict gatekeeping.”
Curbing party-membership growth was an early priority for Mr. Xi, who, soon after taking office four years ago, pledged to control the party’s size and improve its organizational “vigor and vitality.”
That effort was part of Mr. Xi’s broader campaign to instill discipline and nationalistic purpose in the ruling party, so as to curb corruption and bureaucratic atrophy that are eroding the party’s standing.
Mr. Xi’s methods have unsettled many party members. His signature crackdown on corruption, new rules to enforce ideological conformity and political campaigns that include tedious study of speeches and Mao-era self-criticism sessions, have made an official career less appealing and produced grumbling and foot-dragging among some party members.
Even so, the party’s appeal remains strong, with many Chinese seeing it as important to getting ahead in a competitive society.
“In a society where networks are still the greatest enabler, the Communist Party offers one of the most complete and extensive ones available,” said Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese studies at King’s College London.
For many applicants, party membership is “a useful box to tick—something that might give you a slight edge when going for a job or promotion,” Mr. Brown said. “It’s a sort of psychological social insurance.”
Party regulations state that Chinese citizens age 18 or older are eligible to apply for membership—a process typically takes years. Applicants must submit handwritten essays, undergo interviews and be elected by peers to qualify as a “party-entry enthusiast,” and then go through lengthy evaluation and probation periods before being sworn in as a full member.
Some 22.25 million people applied to join the party in 2015, up from 21.66 million two years earlier, according to Mr. Xie, the party academic. The party shortlisted 9.98 million “party-entry enthusiasts” in 2015, down from 10.51 million in 2013, he said.
The party’s appeal remained particularly strong among highly educated Chinese, said Mr. Xie. He cited data showing that university graduates accounted for 44.3% of the party ranks—or 39.3 million members—as of 2015, up from 41.6%, or 36.1 million members, two years earlier.
Even as its screening becomes more rigorous, Mr. Xie cautioned that a key challenge lies in ensuring that party members are properly trained and organized, particularly younger ones.
“Xi’s rectification campaign is having some positive effect, particularly in tightening the screening of potential party members,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London. “But we are talking about a party membership of nearly 90 million, and the effect this has is, at this moment, marginal.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2017/01/05/party-rules-chinas-communist-party-goes-for-quality-over-quantity/
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